Upgrade advice

[Shadowex3]

I'm a bit late but largely I agree with everything posted so far. Except for a few points.

 

1. I would get 4x1gb sticks of a matched set from OCZ, Corsair, G.skill, or Geil but of DDR2-800. The diff between DDR2-1066 and DDR2-800 is negligible to anyone not benchmarking, I've gone from 2.6ghz to 3.4ghz and can get up almost to 4ghz using DDR2-800 and that's with a QUADCORE.

 

2. IF you were going to buy a heatsink I would spend the extra $9 and get a good thermalright like the xp-120 and AM2 retention bracket. I use this heatsink and while it's a bit of a bitch to put on (aren't they all?) it can keep a prescott cool.

 

3. PCI-Express is on your mobo so you're set for modern graphics. However instead of a $90 super-stripped down 9600GSO get a full on $120 9800GT. You should be able to power it. If not I can find you super-cheap yet still reliable power supplies from the likes of seasonic/corsair as well that will still keep you in your budget.